That's No First Lady. That's His Daughter.; At 22, Emma Bloomberg Wants an Entry-Level Job, Not Teas or Toasts

By JENNIFER STEINHAUER

Published: January 6, 2002

Many mayors have had first ladies who oversee the formal world of Gracie Mansion. Some have had first girlfriends. (Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani had both.) But the most prominent woman in Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's public and private life appears to be the first daughter, Emma B. Bloomberg, his elder child.

Since deferring graduate school last year to work on her father's campaign, Ms. Bloomberg, 22, has been a tireless advocate for her father, never doubting that he would win. From July, when she joined the campaign, through the transition, during which she personally arranged every job candidate's interview, Ms. Bloomberg has been one of her father's hardest-working supporters.

But she is also often his closest companion. It was her beaming face that America saw as she held the Bible for her father when Mr. Giuliani swore him in ceremonially at Times Square on New Year's Eve. And she sat by his side at his inauguration last week, thanking the speakers right along with her father as they made their way past his seat.

Ms. Bloomberg, poised and smart (she graduated from Princeton last year and reads Chaucer for fun), says she now wants an entry-level job in her father's government. If the city's Conflicts of Interest Board gives the seal of approval -- she is willing to work free, which may help her to dodge an anti-nepotism rule -- she is very likely to join her father's administration.

That would mean the entertaining, protocol and other unofficial tasks of the first lady might go to someone else, perhaps Mr. Bloomberg's sister, Marjorie Tiven. ''I know that I am his daughter and I know that I've got a certain role to play as his daughter,'' Ms. Bloomberg said on Friday, during a conversation in a Starbucks near her father's transition office.

''I'm not even 23 yet, I don't want to spend my life being a hostess to people who come to New York to see the mayor.'' (Edward Skyler, Mr. Bloomberg's press secretary, said that no official decision had been made about what to do with the office of the first lady and its staff and duties.)

And it seems that no one close to Mr. Bloomberg thinks that teas and toasts should be her purview, either. ''Emma is driven like the mayor, ambitious like the mayor and works hard to a fault,'' said Vincent A. La Padula, a senior adviser to Mr. Bloomberg who was tapped to oversee Ms. Bloomberg when she came on board the campaign. ''Most of the time, she was the first person in the office. She arrived at 7:15 and left after 10.''

Mr. Bloomberg's reliance on the women in his family is striking. His relationship with his ex-wife, Susan Bloomberg, is so close, she earned a spot in the front row for his inauguration, far closer than his current girlfriend, Diana Taylor. His sister, Ms. Tiven, gave him counsel on geriatric issues during the campaign, and also wants a spot in his administration.

His mother, Charlotte, whom he speaks with nearly every morning, also has his ear.

''I don't know if he will ask his mother's advice on how to run the Transportation Department,'' said William T. Cunningham, Mr. Bloomberg's communications director. ''But mothers being what they are, if they have an opinion, they find a way to deliver it.''

His other child, Georgina, 18, has taken less interest in Mr. Bloomberg's mayoralty. An avid rider who chose the equestrian circuit over the campaign trail last year, Georgina Bloomberg ''is much more conscious of maintaining her privacy,'' said Emma, who had to give her sister a little shove toward their father on inaugural day so that she could take her turn standing beside him for his official swearing-in.

But it is the older daughter who has played the larger role in his nascent political life. Emma Bloomberg, who lives in the West Village with friends from college, said that she was off to graduate school to pursue a master's degree in medieval literature when her father said he would like her to stay and help him with his bid for mayor.

She left him hanging for a month, she said, but knew quickly in her heart that she had to do it. Her mother didn't think it was such a great idea. She didn't want Mr. Bloomberg to run in the first place, Emma said.

Neither did anyone else, it seemed. Although Ms. Bloomberg was one of the few people in New York City who believed he could win, she said that thought is what ultimately inspired her to join.

''I had no idea what to expect,'' she said. ''I walked into the office at 9 a.m. the first day, and left at 5. In my head, that was what working was. I soon learned that I had to be there closer to 7, that dinner would be there and that there was no such thing as weekends.''

She feared people would think she was just there because her father said so. ''I was afraid they would think I was a spoiled brat,'' she said.

So for the first few weeks, she stared at her computer screen, talking to no one.

Naysayers annoyed her. ''It was very frustrating dealing with people who thought after Nov. 6 that they'd need a new job,'' she said.

Some talked openly about renting a small space for election night, so it would not seem so empty when no one showed up to console him. She said, ''I thought, if you feel that way, why don't you go and do something else?''

She had one moment, on election night, when she thought it was looking bad. So she stood in a ''Mike for Mayor'' T-shirt outside the Staten Island Ferry entrance, screaming at riders to go home and vote.

Joseph J. Lhota, a former deputy mayor who informally advised Mr. Bloomberg's campaign, said that Ms. Bloomberg, who changed political parties along with her father, impressed everyone around her.

''Emma got her fingernails dirty,'' he said. ''She is one of the hardest workers I have ever seen.''

At first, Ms. Bloomberg worked with the surrogates who would speak on Mr. Bloomberg's behalf at campaign events, and soon, it was learned that she had a flair for writing. Someone threw a box of red pens on her desk and said, ''Nothing is going to leave this office until Emma has edited it,'' she said.

She often worked on her father's speeches. ''One reason that it worked for me is that I know how he thinks and I know how he talks,'' she said.

She is also the one who will press him when she thinks things are veering in the wrong direction.

''If I don't understand a decision, I make him sit down and explain it to me,'' she said. ''I always speak my mind to him.

''I've never seen him make a huge mistake in his life,'' she added, but conceded there were times during the campaign that she wished he had kept his mouth buttoned.

''I was quite vocal when he would say certain things,'' she said.

Like the time toward the end of the campaign when he stood next to Gov. George E. Pataki and proclaimed himself ''a liberal.''

Ms. Bloomberg said that she would like to have a job that continues her researching and policy interests, and that she accepted that it would be entry level. And she expected that her new love of politics would continue, saying she would not rule out running for office herself one day. She used to think of politics as only drawing ''scummy people out to get elected.''

She changed her mind quickly. The night before the election she called her friends and said: ''My dad is going to be mayor. How cool is that?''

Photos: Emma B. Bloomberg, at Gracie Mansion. She impressed campaign co-workers with her work ethic and writing. (Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times)(pg. 25); Emma Bloomberg, center, at last Tuesday's inauguration with her mother, the mayor's ex-wife, Susan; and her sister, Georgina. ''I know that I've got a certain role to play as his daughter,'' Emma said. (Ting-Li Wang/The New York Times)(pg. 27)